Kara-Murza spent years talking out in opposition to Vladimir Putin.
Moscow:
Outspoken Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for 1 / 4 of a century by a Moscow court docket on Monday, the harshest sentence of its variety since Russia invaded Ukraine, after being discovered responsible of treason and different offences he denied.
Kara-Murza, 41, a father of three and an opposition politician who holds Russian and British passports, spent years talking out in opposition to President Vladimir Putin and lobbied Western governments to impose sanctions on Russia and particular person Russians for purported human rights violations.
State prosecutors, who had requested the court docket jail him for 25 years, had accused him of treason and of discrediting the Russian navy after he criticised what Moscow calls its “particular navy operation” in Ukraine.
In a CNN interview broadcast hours earlier than he was arrested, Kara-Murza had alleged that Russia was being run by a “regime of murderers”. He had additionally used speeches in the US and throughout Europe to accuse Russia of bombing civilian targets in Ukraine, a cost Moscow has rejected.
After listening to his sentence on Monday, Kara-Murza, who was calmly listening to proceedings inside a glass courtroom cage dressed casually in a jacket and denims, stated “Russia will likely be free”, a widely known opposition slogan.
In his ultimate speech to the court docket final week, Kara-Murza in contrast his trial, which was held behind closed doorways, to Josef Stalin’s present trials within the Thirties. He had declined to ask the court docket to acquit him, saying he stood by and was pleased with every little thing he had stated.
“Criminals are speculated to repent of what they’ve completed. I, alternatively, am in jail for my political opinions. I additionally know that the day will come when the darkness over our nation will dissipate,” he had stated.
One in every of his legal professionals, Maria Eismont, was quoted by Russian information businesses as saying that Kara-Murza’s authorized group would attraction Monday’s verdict, which she stated had been marred by many critical authorized violations.
Envoy summoned
In London, Britain stated it had summoned the Russian ambassador to protest over what it stated was a “politically motivated” conviction.
Exterior the court docket in Moscow, British Ambassador Deborah Bronnert advised reporters that Kara-Murza had been punished for bravely talking out in opposition to Russia’s battle in Ukraine and demanded he be instantly launched.
US Ambassador Lynne Tracy, talking alongside her, stated Kara-Murza’s conviction was an try and silence dissent.
“Criminalisation of criticism of presidency motion is an indication of weak point, not power,” stated Ms Tracy.
Shortly after sending tens of 1000’s of troops into Ukraine in February final yr, Russia launched sweeping wartime censorship legal guidelines which have been used to silence dissenting voices throughout society.
“Discrediting” the military can at present be punished by as much as 5 years in jail, whereas spreading intentionally false details about it may well entice a 15-year jail sentence.
Casting the battle in Ukraine as an existential wrestle with the West, Russian pro-government politicians say unity throughout society is important. They’ve described Russian residents who query Moscow’s actions in Ukraine as a part of a pro-Western fifth column making an attempt to undermine the navy marketing campaign.
Twice, in 2015 and 2017, Kara-Murza fell immediately ailing in what he stated had been poisonings by the Russian safety companies, on each events falling right into a coma earlier than ultimately recovering.
Russian authorities denied involvement in these incidents. Kara-Murza’s legal professionals say that in consequence, he suffers from a critical nerve dysfunction referred to as polyneuropathy.
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